


Penance

by sevenall



Category: Bleach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:05:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6622636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/pseuds/sevenall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Vice-captains' meeting</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penance

It's almost winter before command of Fifth Division is returned to its Vice-Captain. Seated officers from other divisions, Third and Ninth excepted, have handled drills and maintenance operations in tandem with Fifth's own officers all autumn and will continue to do so until the kidou experts give the all-clear.

As for missions, no Fifth shinigami has been trusted on one since the day their Captain betrayed them and everything he'd sworn to protect and uphold. It shames them and angers them and they can say nothing without being branded as sympathizers, perhaps traitors, themselves. There have been executions for speaking out of turn, before they learnt to curb their tongues.

The day Hinamori Momo comes back to work, snow is on the ground. for the first time that year. Any sympathy or support has been eroded by her long absence; her subordinates greet her with the barest of courtesies, before slipping into their own offices or the gutted archives. Once the pride of Fifth Division, the archives have been stripped of anything and everything. Not even the shelves are left, only the dust and the smell of old scrolls.

A shinigami from Second brings her incoming messages and tea. The service is one she has never seen before. She doesn't ask what happened to the old one, only signs her name in the appropriate places, then pretends to look away so the shinigami, may inspect the documents before they go out again.

By afternoon, most of the division has worked up the courage to confront her. Fourth Seat asks her bitterly why she comes back now, when Fifth already lies in ruins. Sixth tells her that he followed her, not former-Captain Aizen, and that she is the one betrayed him. Passing her in the hall, one of the cleaning staff spits at her feet and she understands it was meant for her face.

Through all this, Tobiume hangs by her side, still and silent. She has explained penance to him. But when the summons to Vice-Captain's meeting arrive, opened and clumsily re-sealed, both message and hellmoth burst into flames.

THE END


End file.
